Most major brands up on last year’s record result
Commercial vehicle sales for 2016 broke the decade record for the second time in a row.
The year ended with 32,964 units sold, according to the Truck Industry Council’s T-Mark figures.
This was up from 2015’s 32,003 and encroached on 2008’s pre-Global Financial Crisis 36,620 total, the first of the T-Mark series.
Almost all high-profile brands lifted their full-year totals and most of those that failed to did not miss by very much.
Isuzu consolidated its grip on top spot with 8,307, up from 7,442 the previous year, with nearest challenger Hino treading water at 4,405, down a tick from 4,443.
Fuso kept the pressure on Hino, up to 3,660 from 3,453.
Most impressive was the light-duty sector, which set an all-time T-Mark record of 10,669, its first time above 10,000 since 2008’s 10,618.
At 4,006 units, Isuzu failed to best 2008’s 4,106 but it was a still a sharp leap from 2015’s 3,496.
Fuso lodged a T-Mark record of 2,216, up from 2008’s 2,021 and the previous year’s 1,988.
Hino, meanwhile, slid somewhat from last year’s 2,112 to 2,047, still under 2008’s 2,258.
Amongst the heavy brigade, which generally ended the year strongly, Kenworth slipped slightly below the 2,000 mark, at 1,979, for the first time since 2011’s 1,766, though its new T610 may well reverse the slide in the coming 12 months.
Volvo Trucks global president Claes Nilsson tells ATN he is most pleased with that brand’s steady, sustainable growth – the only way to go, he believes, in a mature market – and its rise from 2015’s 1,470 to 1,589 last year plus an unbroken run of increases this decade will vindicate that approach.
Though not as uniform in that period, much the same can be said of Scania, up 40 units to 745, and Isuzu, from 1,203 to 1,278.
A counterpoint to their gains is the steady decline of Iveco to 542 units – the lowest in T-Mark’s records – from 588 in 2015 and a high point of 934 in 2012.
Over all, heavy-duty trucks sales may be testing some sort of floor, with last year’s 9,882 just 12 units down on 2015’s total and a much smaller decline than in recent years.
The medium duty segment has been a sales highlight of the past year, having lunched itself above the 7,000 mark for the first time this decade.
At 7,027, it is shaded only by 2009’s 7,250 and 2008’s boom-boosted 9,609.
Here Isuzu, at 3,023, found itself above the 3,000 level for the first time since 2009, while Hino consolidated above 2,000 for the second year running, at 2,068, up from 2,026 the previous year and its best since 2008’s 2,974.